


The Ones She Loves

by regenderate



Series: Fanzine Prompts [10]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:13:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22721515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regenderate/pseuds/regenderate
Summary: The Doctor decides to celebrate Valentine's Day.
Relationships: The Corsair/Thirteenth Doctor, Thirteenth Doctor/River Song, Thirteenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: Fanzine Prompts [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1386823
Comments: 4
Kudos: 69





	The Ones She Loves

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this for the holiday-themed thirteen fanzine that never was and I've literally been waiting MONTHS to post this! I hope you all like it <3 it includes a little comics canon when it comes to the Corsair but that's just one section and if you haven't read the comics you should still be able to get through this just fine

It’s Valentine’s Day.

Not that there are “days” inside the TARDIS or anything, but the Doctor loves a good holiday, hasn’t had one in a while, and the last one she did was New Year with the fam, so— Valentine’s Day is what comes next, by human rules. And the Doctor’s grown accustomed to human rules. 

She drops off the fam for a day back on Earth, promises she’ll come back for tea later, and stands in the empty console room, trying to decide how to go about this. It’s going to be risky, playing with timelines, but what’s life without a few risks? 

She launches the TARDIS. 

When she lands, it’s 8:00 AM, February 14, 2005. 

So now all she has to do is wait.

The store opens at nine.

The Doctor enters at ten. 

She heads to the women’s section. She’s a woman now; she won’t even look out of place. 

Only, she feels out of place as she walks into the masses of clothes. She looks even less like the people around her than she usually does, the mums with small children in strollers, the women in puffy black coats. They’re all too polite to stare openly, but she can feel their eyes on her when she’s not looking. 

She doesn’t really mind. She just keeps her eyes on the clothes, picking through as if she’d wear any of it, and she’s lost in nerves and excitement until a voice behind her asks, “Excuse me, can I help you?”

The Doctor jumps three feet in the air. The voice itself has startled her; it’s another moment before she really registers the voice she’s just heard. 

She takes a deep breath.

She turns around.

Rose Tyler is a foot away from her. 

For a moment, she just stares. Having pictures just isn’t the same— seeing Rose’s face in person feels like a relief in a way the Doctor never expected, or rather a way she’s forgotten about. It feels like home, and the feeling catches the Doctor off guard. She hasn’t had a home in thousands of years. Hasn’t even felt close to this way since— well, since she left River at Darillium.

And then she snaps back into the moment and realizes Rose is staring back at her, and not the good kind of staring.

“Ma’am?” she asks.

“Right, sorry!” the Doctor says. “You startled me, that’s all, I’m not great with being startled.” She looks around frantically for something to mention. Her eyes land on a mannequin in an evening gown across the floor. “I’m looking for something nice to wear,” she says. “For an event. An awards ceremony.”

“Oh, did you win something?” Rose asks. It’s strange, to hear her talk with the polite deference and the vague apathy of a shop girl who’s given up trying to care. The Rose the Doctor knows— or, well, knew— is/was strong and snappy and confident in her own body. 

“Not me,” the Doctor says. “A friend. I’m just having trouble because I never really dress up, and, well, usually I do a suit and tie, but I’d like to branch out a bit.”

“I think I can help with that,” Rose says. “We’ll have to go over to the formalwear department.”

“Oh, is that not what this is?” the Doctor asks. “Really, I’m rubbish at all this.”

“’S why you’ve got a salesperson,” Rose says with a shrug. “Come on, then, I’ll show you some dresses.”

The Doctor follows Rose across the shop. Her emotions are swelling up in her, and this body has never been good at hiding— all she can do is keep her mouth shut tight even as her shoulders shake with all the joy and love and sadness bubbling inside of her. They get to the evening wear section, and Rose steps back and looks the Doctor up and down. For a moment, the Doctor is afraid Rose can see how much she’s hiding, but Rose just says, “You might do all right with a blue, then.”

“Oh, love blue,” the Doctor says. She glances down at her outfit, the blue shirt and navy trousers. “Maybe that was obvious.”

Rose laughs. “We’ve got this one just in,” she says. “I’ll pull a few sizes.” She walks around a rack and comes back with three hangers full of blue fabric. She holds one up for the Doctor to see. “Might suit you.”

The Doctor looks at it. It’s a deep blue— almost the color of the TARDIS, funnily enough— with sheer fabric laid over satin.

“That’s gorgeous,” she says. 

Rose holds it out. 

“Do you want to look at any others?” she asks.

The Doctor almost shakes her head, but then she remembers that the faster this is over, the sooner Rose Tyler blinks out of her life again, and she says, “I’d love to try a few others.”

“’Course,” Rose says. She pulls a few more dresses off the rack, and the Doctor asks detailed questions about the fabrication of each one, trying her hardest to drag the conversation as long as she can. Finally, there’s nothing more to say, and the Doctor thanks Rose and turns for the dressing rooms. She hesitates before she takes the first step. She looks back over her shoulder. “Happy Valentine’s Day,” she adds.

“You, too,” Rose says with a smile.

(The dress suits the Doctor perfectly.)

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor tries to decide what comes next. If it’s Valentine’s Day, as she’s determined, it wouldn’t do to only visit one past love— not when the Doctor is filled with love, and not when she loves so many people scattered around time and space.

She lands the TARDIS in the Stormcage prison. She’s done this a couple of times before— she tried to avoid it, back in the day, but this one time she doesn’t mind. It’s a special occasion, after all. She’s still wearing the dress Rose sold her and everything. River always has the effect of making the Doctor feel underdressed, and the Doctor’s itching to turn the tables. 

She walks out into River’s cell, trying to look elegant, mostly feeling awkward in her bulky boots. River’s facing the wall in front of her, adjusting her outfit (she somehow manages to make a prison uniform sexy) as if looking in a mirror. As the Doctor takes another step, River turns, perfectly composed. 

She sees the Doctor.

Her composure drops.

“Hello, sweetie,” the Doctor says, her mouth quirked into a smile.

“Doctor,” River says, her voice filled with wonder. “Is it you?”

“’Course it is,” the Doctor says. 

River’s eyes trail up and down the Doctor’s body.

“Is that what you wear these days?” she asks.

The Doctor grins.

“Nah,” she says. “Bought it off an old friend in London.”

River looks at her with soft eyes.

“You’re revisiting your old memories,” she says.

Sheepish, the Doctor nods. 

“Sorry,” she says.

“No need to apologize,” River replies. She takes the Doctor’s hand and holds it between the two of them. “You look wonderful.”

“So do you,” the Doctor says. “Like always.”

“So where are we going?”River asks.

The Doctor hasn’t thought about it, but the minute River asks, she realizes what she wants to do.

“Come and see,” she says. 

River follows her into the TARDIS, eyes appropriately wide at the new interior, and the Doctor makes her turn around while she sets the coordinates. Moments later, she opens the TARDIS doors to see the blooming reds and blues of a supernova and says, “Let’s have a picnic.” 

River joins the Doctor in the doorway.

“That sounds wonderful,” she says.

“Brilliant,” the Doctor says. “Give me just a moment.” She darts back into the TARDIS. The kitchen is fully stocked, and the Doctor comes back moments later with sandwiches, chocolates, and champagne all in a basket. River’s sitting in the doorway now, leaning against the frame, her hair glowing in the soft light. The Doctor approaches, setting the basket down behind River as she sits.

“Thanks for joining me,” she says.

“Of course."

The Doctor rests her head on River’s shoulder.

“I saw Rose,” she says, looking out at the nebula. River knows about all her old friends. “A few months before she met me the first time. She sold me this dress.”

“How was she?” River asks. 

“Fine,” the Doctor says. “Younger.” 

“And how am I?” River asks.

“Same as always,” the Doctor says. She reaches behind River and starts pulling food out of the basket. She offers River a sandwich, and when River takes it the Doctor pours two glasses of champagne. 

“To the stars,” River says, raising her glass in a toast.

“To the stars,” the Doctor agrees. 

She drops River back off at Stormcage, after. They share a kiss, and then the Doctor’s all alone in her TARDIS again. 

She misses River.

She misses Rose.

She has one more stop.

She doesn’t know how to get there, but she trusts the TARDIS to figure it out. She sets the coordinates as best she can, and then she throws the lever, closes her eyes, and hopes.

A minute later, she walks out of the TARDIS onto the deck of a pirate ship. The ship seems to be grounded in the middle of a desert, surrounded on either side by rolling dunes. The deck is deserted but for a thin dusting of sand. 

The Doctor takes a few step, uncertain. 

“Hello?” she calls.

Suddenly, a trapdoor opens and a flash of billowing fabric emerges. The Doctor blinks, and when she opens her eyes again, the Corsair is standing in front of her, brandishing a sword.

“Hello,” the Doctor says again.

The Corsair lowers her sword.

“Doctor,” she says. “I didn’t know you were coming by.”

“Didn’t know it myself,” the Doctor says. “Was just visiting old friends, thought I’d give you a call.”

“Where are your new friends?” the Corsair asks, looking over the Doctor’s shoulder. “You haven’t lost them already, have you?” 

“No,” the Doctor says. “Nothing like that. Just wanted to go off alone for a bit. How long’s it been for you?”

“About a hundred years,” the Corsair says. “You?”

“Just a few months,” the Doctor admits. “What have you been up to?”

“You know,” the Corsair says. “Piloting my ship. Exploring the universe. Learning to be kind.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” the Doctor says. “Me, I’ve just been running around like normal.”  
“Well, there’s been plenty of that for me too,” the Corsair says. She takes the Doctor’s hand and pulls, bringing the Doctor in for a soft, slow kiss.

She pulls away.

“You should get back to your friends,” she says.

“Right,” the Doctor says, flustered. “Of course.”

“You’ll see me again,” the Corsair says.

“Can’t get rid of me that easily,” the Doctor replies.

The Corsair tilts her sword in a salute. With a smile, she turns and disappears down the trapdoor, slamming it closed. Still dazed, the Doctor stares at the spot on the floor for a moment before she turns and walks back into the TARDIS.

A minute later, she’s landed in Sheffield, just in time for tea.

“What did you do today, Doctor?” Yaz asks as she pours the Doctor’s cup.

“Oh, wandered a bit,” the Doctor says. “Saw some old friends.”

“Anyone we’d recognize?” Ryan asks. 

“You’d remember the Corsair,” the Doctor says. “I saw her. And my old wife. River. And my Rose. Well— her name is Rose. She’s not my anything, really.” She waves a hand. “Doesn’t matter. I don’t see any of them much these days.”

“I’m sorry,” Graham says.

“That’s all right,” the Doctor tells him. “I carry them with me, remember? Just need a bit of a refresher every so often.” She pauses, and then careens into a subject change. “It’s got to be near Valentine’s Day now, hasn’t it? Do you have those heart candies with those cute little sayings on them? I love those little hearts. You know, in another century, they’re going to be in fashion as hairpieces.”

“You went off through all of time and space,” Ryan says, “and you didn’t think to stop off for love hearts?”

“Oi, I’m not perfect,” the Doctor says.

“That’s all right,” Yaz says. “We’ll go to the shops after tea, yeah?”

“Brilliant,” the Doctor agrees. 

Later, they’re sitting in the TARDIS kitchen eating little chalky hearts, laughing about the silly little slogans. Sitting there, laughing with her friends, Rose’s smile and River’s kiss and the Corsair’s voice still stuck at the front of her mind, the Doctor can’t help but think she’s had the perfect Valentine’s Day.


End file.
